Adjustable spanner wrench



Oct. 9, 1945. Q MEYER ADJUSTABLE SPANNER WRENCH Filed Jan. 11, 1944 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 -INVENTOR CLARENCE L We 7E)? 1 BY Patented Oct. 9, 1945 'umreosrnres Pare oFFlce I, (Grantedj underithe act of Mar'ch3, 1883, as

. amended April-30, 1928;. '370'0. G. 757)" The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or fortheGovernment for governmenta1 purposes, without the payment'to me of any royalty thereon. N

This invention relates to a spanner Wrench and particularly to a wrench of this .class which is ad-. justable to different sizes. ,An object of the invention is to provide a single wrench with such adjustments as will enable it to cover'arange of Work which ordinarily wouldrequireaconsiderablenumber of separate wrenches. V V

Another object is to so. construct and arrange the wrench thatit will require a minimum of time to adapt it to the several uses to which it is anplicable. r y

Another object is to so construct the wrench that it may be gotten into narrowspacesbetween hubs or similar partswhich may be spaced along ashaft.

Another object is to provide a wrench which will have capacity to adjust nuts in difiicult positions which an ordinary wrench will not reach.

I attain these and other objects in the devices hereinafter described and shown in the drawings wherein:

Fig. l is a top plan view of the improved wrench with the cover plate broken away on the left half to show the interior construction;

Fig. 2 is an edge view, the lefthand portion being a section taken at 22 of Fig. 1;

Figs. 3, 4, 5 and 6 show examples of interchangeable adapters used for adapting the wrench for adjusting difierent kinds of nuts;

Figs. 7, 8 and 9 are examples of nuts having different indentations for receiving the lugs of the wrench;

Fig. 10 shows a nut of special design which requires a special adapter;

Fig. 11 shows a nut in a particular location whichmakes it difiicultto adjust with a wrench of ordinary construction;

Fig. 12 shows one of a pair of adapters which may be used for adjusting hexagonal or other polygonal nuts.

Referring to the drawings, the body of the wrench is made in two substantially identical .parts 10, hinged together by hinge pin 2 and onthe front'surfaces, the covers beingfastened to'f,the .body partsby means of screws The cover on the left half of the body is shown broken away (see Fig. 1)-. Openings. 22 are cut through both the, bodypart [0. and the cover Him the. adjusting nuts 24, the slides I6 being provided at. their outer ends with longscrews 26, the external'threads of which fit the internal threads I of the adjusting nuts. Each body portion 10 is provided :with a handle 28which, in the exemplification shown, is welded to the part II), although whereit is desired tocarry the outfit in a smaller package, arrangement may be made for screwing the handles into place. Obviously, turning the nuts 24 will move the slides longitudinally-in thev channels of the wrench bodyto alter the-distance between theinner ends of the slides.

.fIlie.inner'ends of theslides l6 are each pro-j vided with a transversely extending socket 30 arranged and positioned to receive a seriesof interchangeable adapters, one example 32 being shown in place in Figs. land 2, other examples being disclosed in Figs. 3, 4, 5 and 6. Each adapter 32 has extending from its under side a rectangular shank 34 (see Fig. 2) which is fitted slidably to the socket 30, while its upper surface carries a lug 36 of a size and contour suitable for entering the wrench-lug opening in the nut which is to be adjusted.

The nut 38 (see Fig. 7) is of a type to which the adapter 32 is suitable, the nut 38 having a series of round wrench-lug opening 40 into which the round lugs 36 of the adapter may enter when the nut is to be adjusted, the slides I6 being, of course, adjusted longitudinally until the spacing of the lugs 36 equals the pitch diameter of the openings 40. The additional adapters shown in Figs. 3 to 6 are for other types of nuts. For instance,

, the adapter 42 (see Fig. 4) is provided with square lugs 44 which may be used in tightening nuts having wrench-lug openings in the form of radial grooves 46 in their front faces as in the nut 48 of Fig. 8. Where a nut has a series of axially extending grooves 50 around its periphery, such as appear in the nut 52 of Fig. 9, adapters as shown at 54 are provided with longitudinal key parts 56, which are designed to fit the grooves 50 in the nut 52.

In cases where a nut, such as the nut 55 0f Fig. 10, is of relatively small diameter and has wrench-lug openings in the form of radial grooves in its front face, it may be necessary to provide a pair of ofiset adapters 58, as seen in Fig. 3, in order to allow the inner ends of the slide members I6 to clear the shaft upon which the nut 55 is being adjusted. One of a pair of offset adapters 58 is shown in Fig. 3.

There are occasions where a nut like that shown at 62 of Fig. 11 is located at the bottom of a cupped member 64. In such case it becomes necessary to provide extension adapters 65 as shown in place in Fig. 11 and in detail in Fig. 6.

' Such adapters will carry lugs 68 ontheir forward endsadapted to fit the1lug-engaging slots of the nut. They should also have threaded stud portions H1 at their rearward ends which may beprovided with nuts 12. These nuts are provided only on extension adapters, and are required b cause of the considerable leverage tending to pry the adapters out of their sockets in the slides.

The slides are each provided with' a small spring-and-ball detent '14, Fig. 1, each adapter having a corresponding depression 15 for the ball to enter, whereby, for the ordinary adapters, no other fastening means is required. Specialadapters, as shown at 16, Fig. l2,may be provided for hexagonal or other polygonal nuts, these adapters being provided with sides to fittheanjgle of the polygonal nuts which are to be adjusted,

the rectangular shanks 34 being of the same adapters heretoffore dedimensions as the other scribed.

The fact that the wrench may beopenedas' shown by the dotted line 11 of Fig. 1, makes it particularly applicable to the adjustment'oiaircraft parts, such as landing gears, tail wheels,

struts, etc, without taking'them from the air plane, because the structure of many of these parts is such that a soli wrench may not be gotten to the'nut which is to be adjusted from either end. 4

A graduation I8 may be put on the top of the slide members [6 adjacent the openingfli'n .the

body l2, whereby the size to whichthe 'wrench of opposite slide members carried by said body, 1 normal to the axis of said central opening, slid- .able;in .g...groove of said body, said members having their inner ends projected into said central opening, screw-and-nut adjusting means associated with the outer ends of each of said members for varying the distance which each slide --member projects into said opening, the slide at the other end for engaging wrench-lug openmembers having rectangular sockets extending transversely therethrough adjacent the inner ends,rdetent means extendable inwardly intosaid sockets, adapters having shanks at one endextending into said sockets with detent depressions for cooperating with saiddetent means, and lugs ings in the nuts which are to be'tightened.

2. The wrench of claim} in which the body is divided into'two parts on a line extending diametrically through the central opening with hinge means joining the two parts on cne side and removable locking bolt 'm'eans' joining the two parts on the opposite side. v

3. The wrench of claim 1, with graduations on the slide members alignable with the edge of said central opening, and with the part mun-'- bers of the nuts to be adjusted carried as indicia for the several graduatio'ns' CLARENCE L. MEY g 

